Marvel's Agents of SHIELD: "One of Us"Review

Hey, people. It's Fowler. I'm filling in for Goldman and doing the Agents of SHIELD review this week while he's on vacation.

In "One of Us," Kyle MacLachlan's unstable, revenge-seeking Cal Zabo brought together a band of "indexed" misfits for the MCU's first official supervillain (to use the label loosely) team-up. As usual, MacLachlan's Cal was a ton of fun, adding an offbeat gothic zeal to the proceedings, but the danger element of the episode just never landed.

I know that the point of Cal's gang was that they weren't exactly all that powerful (aside from Angar, who the rest went out of their way to swipe from a SHIELD holding facility), but I also never bought that together they'd become "a force," as Cal promised. I mean, maybe the strong(ish) guy, Noche, was an obstacle. And guest star Drea de Matteo's Karla Faye Gideon might be tough for someone who was unarmed. But in general, when your heroes' weapons are more powerful than most of the opposition's "powers," you're not going to get an epic showdown.

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD: "One of Us" Photo Gallery:

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: "One of Us" Photos

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: "One of Us" Photos

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: "One of Us" Photos

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: "One of Us" Photos

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: "One of Us" Photos

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Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: "One of Us" Photos

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: "One of Us" Photos

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: "One of Us" Photos

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: "One of Us" Photos

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: "One of Us" Photos

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Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: "One of Us" Photos

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: "One of Us" Photos

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: "One of Us" Photos

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So there was sort of a Mystery Men vibe to all of it (they even stopped for a bite at a diner). Karla's scalpel fingers, while more lethal, reminded me of The Blue Raja a bit. And I did wonder, despite her having killed people, why SHIELD would bother indexing someone who only/simply turned their fingers into knives? All it means is that, at any one time, she's as dangerous as someone who's holding a two knives. It just seems like there are other, lesser law enforcement agencies who should have probably kept track of these folks. At least, by the end, Simmons and Coulson had a chat about re-classifiying some of their index and moving some into an "Enhanced" category.

I suppose Cal's failed venture was representative of his desperation/madness - his fear that Skye would get tagged and treated like an animal. Erratic, volatile feelings that he's now admitted are due to him, over the years, trying to improve himself "with chemistry." A reveal that makes him feel more complete as Marvel's Mr. Hyde. The guy's a wild card, not a sinister plotter though. His team never even really got off the ground. The tech guy was sort of useless, Angar got taken out before he could scream, and Cal himself got teleported away by the mysterious no-eyed guy. Best prognosis here, the story was more fun than exciting.

On the Easter Egg front, Angar and Karla both have comic book ties to Daredevil - with Angar, as an actual dude with powers, being the more prominent figure.

The third act gave us a couple of cool cliffhangers to chew on until next week. Skye learned to turn her vibro-power inward (even though it messed up her bones quite a bit), Cal walked off into another room to meet a new mysterious player in the Inhumans game, and Hunter was shown a door with a SHIELD emblem on it - informed by Mac that it represented the "real SHIELD."

Guest star Blair Underwood mixed nicely into the squad as May's ex, Dr. Andrew Garner - a guy whose ties to May's mysterious, non-SHIELD past made him an object of interest for many. In fact, Simmons and Fitz even giddily bonded over May's relaxed demeanor - a dynamic we haven't seen between them in a long while. And Andrew opening up a tiny bit about his past with May (with May's approval, naturally) helped warm Skye up for some psychoanalysis.

The intent here, on the show, is to get Skye/Daisy to a place where she can be an superpower asset. So this was the first step that was more or less free and clear of Simmons freaking out and treating her like a cosmic horror. Skye, looser now and less freaked out, even tried to sneak in a Cavalry-related question, but Andrew shut her down.

The Verdict

While I never thought for an instant that Cal and his team posed any sort of serious threat to SHIELD (um, "fake SHIELD" I guess), MacLachlan still helped carry this episode across the goal line with his devious, winning performance. SHIELD doesn't get too many "quipster" villains, so Cal's always a welcome addition to the mix. I especially liked it when he saw Skye and asked "What's your thing? I was hoping it'd be wings." In the end, nothing felt all that vital, but the story wound up having an oddball Tim Burton-y appeal.